Thursday, February 23, 2006

The hat is in the ring

The South Dakota Senate approved a bill that would make most abortions in the state illegal. It would call for a felony conviction and a 5 year prison sentence for doctors (or others) who perform abortions.

"(State Senator Julie) Bartling and other supporters ntoed that the recent appointment of Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito make the Supreme Court more likely to consider overturning Roe v. Wade. President Bush ... might also have a chance to appoint a third justice in the next few years, they said."

The addition of two justices to support the voiced opposition to RvW of Justices Alito and Thomas. I'm no math major, but I see only four on the potential overturn side. And even then, there's no guarantee on how Justices Roberts or Alito will rule. This is an interesting gamble on the part of South Dakota. The state is betting that the litigation that will certainly ensue will wait until President Bush (maybe) can nominate a new justice to come up for review.

It will be an interesting show, no matter how it goes. I look forward to seeing how it plays out.

3 comments:

Jack Mercer said...

Hi Steve,

English Professor had recommended your blog. Will be back to comment.

What is interesting is that the Democrats voted for this overwhelmingly. Wonder how that is going to play out?

-Jack

Steve said...

Thanks for stopping by, Jack. I hope you find the ditch to be entertaining.

I found it interesting to see that the sponsor of the bill was a Democrat. That there was such overwhelming support by both sides is very interesting.

I can hardly wait to see how this goes through the litigation.

Bookworm said...

It will be interesting. I'm more pro-choice than not, but I can't be blind to the fact that Roe v. Wade was an appalling poorly reasoned decision. It's time for it to be cleaned up one way or another. Of course, it's easy for me to say, since I live in California and not South Dakota. Still, as the parent of a daughter, I might prefer South Dakota . . . . Hard to find answers to these deep questions.